This tour of Finland concentrates on the capital, Helsinki, and the work of the Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Finland found it's musical identity largely through the work of Jean Sibelius. He established himself as one of the most considerable of the late Romantic symphonists, and in his tone-poems created a national music that has defied imitation.

REVIEW:

Osmo Vänskä recorded a superb Kullervo Symphony in Lahti–indeed, that was and remains a reference version. It featured a particularly brave, because very slow but also remarkably powerful, account of the second movement, Kullervo’s Youth. Unlike Vänskä’s other Sibelius symphony remakes in Minnesota, which are replete with annoying little mannerisms and surprisingly dead passages, this performance is excellent. It’s also virtually identical, down to the second, to the conductor’s previous effort. There’s even an authentic Finnish chorus, the YL Male Voice Choir, imported from Helsinki for the occasion. The group has performed and recorded Kullervo something like a thousand times already, so we know exactly what to expect.

Why, then, bother with this new release at all? Well, Kullervo fits on a single disc, as it did previously, but for this series of performances the Minnesota Orchestra commissioned Finnish composer Olli Kortekangas to write a “companion” to Kullervo–in this case a 25-minute piece called Migrations. It is written for the same forces as the Sibelius, setting poems inspired by Finnish immigration to Minnesota (of which there was a lot, in case you didn’t know). The English poems, by Sheila Packa, are both sensitive and moving, the use of language often lovely. Kortegangas sets four of them, separated by three orchestral interludes. You also get as an encore one of the various versions of Finlandia with (male) choir, if you care.

The problem with this release, as I see it, is twofold. First, Kortekangas shows far too much respect to Packa. These are longish poems, the settings themselves relatively brief. This means that there is a lot of talking going on, however accessible and attractive the music (and it is both); but as with so many choral pieces with lots of text to get through, the words are practically unintelligible, and so you can’t really enjoy the poetry at all as it is sung. Second, I doubt that anyone except hardcore patrons of the Minnesota Orchestra–and friends and relatives of Kortekangas–wants this set principally for Migrations. It requires a (very short) second disc. Logically, therefore, the package should have been offered at two discs for the price of one to make it at least competitive with Vänskä’s first recording of Kullervo.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)

Finnish composer Jean Sibelius occupies an odd position straddling the fence between the 19th and 20th centuries. Despite his innovates, almost Ravellian gift for orchestration (listen to "The Dryad") his music remains, like that of his German contemporary Richard Strauss, firmly grounded in the Romantic tradition. What sets Sibelius apart, however, is the indefatigable folksiness of his music reminiscent of his Norwegian forerunner, Edvard Grieg, and largely derived from the Kalevala, the Finnish traditional Saga.

It's precisely this undefinable "Finnishness" that makes this collection of Sibelius tone poems unique: here is a Finnish orchestra in its own element. With the same unfair advantage one might concede the New York Phil in music of Gershwin, The Lahti Symphony orchestra under countryman Osmo Vänskä imbues this collection with style and culture. Sibelius's cool orchestral sonorities are met with a concise but moody warmth ideally suited to the semi-programmatic spirit of En Saga or Pohjola's Daughter. A fine exploration of this enduringly listenable composer.

David Simmons, WQXR

"Osmo Vänskä and his players excel at presenting Sibelius' gentler (and sometimes darker) side. This allows them to turn in wonderfully poetic and atmospheric performances of The Dryad and its accompanying Dance-Intermezzo, along with a truly evocative The Bard and a magnificently impressionistic account of The Oceanides (finely detailed with impressively sculpted bass lines). Vänskä's sensitivity to the subtle nuances of Sibelius' orchestration also ensures that the first half of Night Ride and Sunrise is aesthetically, rather than exasperatingly, monotonous, while the dawn sequence sounds aptly fresh and serene...I can't think of another Sibelius tone poem collection that offers a better planned or more interesting selection of pieces...unfailingly beautiful and idiomatic... -- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

Conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste has been conducting the symphonies of Sibelius all over the world throughout his conducting career. Thirty-five years after his first recording of the complete cycle, Saraste returns to the symphonies of Sibelius with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra-the orchestra with which Sibelius conducted the premieres of his symphonies back in the day.

Following her recital dedicated to exiled composers (BIS-2332), Sueye Park joins forces with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, conducted by Valentin Egel, to present concertante works for violin and orchestra by Karl Goldmark and Jean Sibelius. The two composers may belong to different generations and cultures, but their musical DNA is strikingly similar; both were virtuoso violinists who weathered financial and political storms, drew inspiration from Mendelssohn and Wagner, and penned masterful violin concertos. Their paths actually crossed in Vienna (1890-91), when Sibelius studied under Goldmark, and this brief but significant mentorship inspired violinist Sueye Park to pair their works on this album. At the heart of the album is Goldmark's Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 28 (1877), a sweeping, virtuosic masterpiece that marries Hungarian folk inflections with German Romanticism. Complementing this are Sibelius's exquisite shorter works: the late Suite JS 185, the lyrical Two Serious Melodies, Op. 77, and the highly expressive Humoresques, Op. 87. Together, this program celebrates two composers who were supremely at home writing for the violin-an instrument inextricably woven into the fabric of their musical identities.

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

Great news! Arkivmusic.com has gotten its "on demand" hands on the Japanese RCA Ormandy Edition, making these recordings available in North America at far saner prices. Some of these performances are outstanding, nowhere more so than here--one of the greatest Sibelius recordings ever made. Ormandy's Fourth Symphony is magnificent: gaunt, direct, and unflinching, with stunning string playing and the most intelligent approach on disc to the percussion conundrum in the finale (chimes at the "sonore" climax, glockenspiel everywhere else). Some listeners might prefer a swifter tempo in the scherzo, but this interpretation is all of a piece, taking in the work as if in one sweeping gesture, and Sibelians will understand just what that means.

The Seventh also is a perfectly paced, immaculately played performance, with none of the mannerisms in the pastoral interlude that disturb Ormandy's first recording for Sony. As for the tone poems, there is no finer performance of Oceanides available anywhere, and Pohjola's Daughter is just about as good. Ormandy could come across as a somewhat stiff and unsmiling interpreter, but not here, and particularly not in music that requires an absolutely logical, indeed mathematical approach to tempo relationships between sections. Both in terms of performance quality and programming (Sibelius at his very greatest throughout), it just doesn't get any better.

The Japanese edition apparently used original unaltered sources, meaning the tapes were not remastered in any way, and so vary widely in sound quality--from very good, as here, to virtually unlistenable (Mahler Second). So until someone goes back and redoes them from scratch--and we may have a very long wait--you will have to buy selectively. These recordings, from the late 1970s, stand among the best-sounding of the lot. A magnificent release that you won't want to miss!

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Sibelius may not have written the flashiest piano music of his time, yet the stark beauty of his mature harmonic language and instinct for effective keyboard deployment (which certainly developed as he progressed) characterize each and every work on this disc. As with previous volumes in this series, pianist Håvard Gimse imbues these pieces with all the color, dynamic range, technical control, insight, and tender loving care he can muster, and there's much to savor despite this collection's anonymous-sounding titles.


In particular, the collections of Op. 75 and 85, subtitled "The Trees" and "The Flowers", are appealingly nature-inspired, and Gimse wrings every drop of poetry from their often unassuming outward appearance. And that's saying a lot, since Gimse is one of the most cultivated, musicianly pianists on the scene. Top class sonics and fine annotations further enhance my recommendation. If you've been collecting Naxos' Sibelius piano music cycle, you'll want this disc as a matter of course.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Since her 1994 sensational recording debut with Orchestral Leider/Vier Letzte Lieder and Wesendonk Lieder on Kontrapunkt label, the Danish soprano Elisabeth Meyer-Topsøe’s career has soared to the new height in the international opera scenes. This is her first recording of songs which she dedicates to HM Queen Ingrid Queen Mother who is from Sweden and is turning 80 this month. Meyer-Topsøe’s tie to Sweden is quite special through her education there and being a pupil of the Swedish legendary soprano Birgit Nilsson.The songs recorded here are with special relation to Sweden.